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NavSource Online: Amphibious Photo Archive

USS Warren (APA-53)


International Radio Call Sign:
November - Kilo - Uniform - Golf
 NKUG
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons



Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row - Combat Action Ribbon (retroactive)
Second Row - China Service Medal (extended) - American Campaign Medal - Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (5)
Bottom Row - World War II Victory Medal - Navy Occupation Service Medal (with Asia clasp) - Philippines Liberation Medal (2)
Sumter Class Attack Transport
  • Laid down, 19 April 1942, as SS Jean Lafitte, a Maritime Commission type (C2-S-E1) hull, under Maritime Commission contract (MC hull 415), at Gulf Shipbuilding Co., Chickasaw, AL.
  • Launched, 7 September 1942
  • Assigned to the Navy as a Naval Transport (AP-98) and renamed Warren
  • Reclassified as Attack Transport (APA-53), 1 February 1943
  • Acquired by the Navy and placed in partial commission for transit to her conversion yard, 19 February 1943
  • Decommissioned, 10 March 1943
  • Converted to an Attack Transport at Key Highway Plant, Bethlehem Steel Corp., Baltimore MD.
  • Recommissioned USS Warren (APA-53), 2 August 1943, CDR. William A. McHale, USNR, in command
  • During WWII USS Warren was assigned to Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the following campaigns:
    Asiatic-Pacific Campaigns
    Campaign and Dates Campaign and Dates
    Marshall Islands operation
    Occupation of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls (Roi and Namur), 31 January to 4 February 1944     		Leyte operation
    Leyte landings, 22 October 1944
    Marianas operation
    Capture and occupation of Guam, 20 t o25 July 1944     		Luzon operation
    Lingayen Gulf landings, 2 to 15 January 1945
    Western Caroline Islands operation
    Capture and occupation of southern Palau Islands, 15 to 22 September 1944     		.

  • Decommissioned, 14 March 1946
  • Struck from the Naval Register, 17 April 1946
  • Returned to the Maritime Commission at Mobile, AL, 1 August 1946 for disposal
  • Commercial History
    Sold to Waterman Steamship Co., 10 February 1947, for $957,818.00, renamed SS Arizpa
    Converted to a container vessel for Sea-Land Service, 13 May 1965
    Operated by Litton Industries Leasing Corp, Wilmington, DE., 1966 through 1976
    Operated by Reynolds Leasing Corp, Wilmington, DE., 1976 through 1979,
    Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 8 September 1977, scrapped at Brownsville, TX.
  • USS Warren received five battle stars for World War II service
    Specifications:
    Displacement 13,910 t.(fl)
    Length 468' 8"
    Beam 63'
    Draft 23' 3"
    Speed 16.5 kts.
    Complement
    38 Officers
    419 Enlisted
    Troop Accommodations
    91 Officers
    1,400 Enlisted
    Cargo Capacity 170,000 cu. ft., 1,300 t.
    Armament
    two single 5"/38 dual purpose gun mounts
    four twin 40mm AA gun mounts
    ten single 20mm AA gun mounts
    Propulsion
    1 General Electric geared drive turbine
    2 Babcock and Wilcox header-type boilers
    1 propeller
    Design shaft horsepower 6,000
    Click On Image
    For Full Size Image    		 Size Image Description Contributed
    By
    USS Warren (APA-53)
    Warren 18k
    Namesake

    Joseph Warren—born on 11 June 1741 at Roxbury, Mass.—graduated with distinction from Harvard College in 1759. After a year as headmaster of the Roxbury Grammar School, he entered the medical profession and later practiced as a physician in Boston. There, he became interested in politics and formed an early association with the firebrand Samuel Adams. As the break in relations between the colonies and Great Britain approached, Warren abandoned his medical practice to enter military service. While still in Boston, he dispatched William Dawes and Paul Revere on their famous nocturnal rides to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of approaching British troops on 18 April 1775. Elected a major general by the provincial congress on 14 June, Warren went out to Bunker Hill to look over the defenses shortly before the British attack on the afternoon of 17 June 1775. Although he consistently refused to take command, claiming that he would take part in the battle only as a volunteer, Warren eventually tried to exert leadership in rallying the colonial militia at Breed's Hill. Unfortunately, he was shot and killed by a British soldier while engaged in the attempt. (US Naval Historical Center) Image from: American Revolution.com    		 Bill Gonyo
    Warren 48k USS Warren (APA-53 underway, date and location unknown. Hyperwar US Navy in WWII
    Warren 64k USS Warren (APA-53 at Hampton Roads, 23 August 1943, her decks crowded with a landing craft and antiaircraft guns.
    US National Archives photo # (80-G-78655, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.    		 US Naval Historical Center web site
    Commercial Service
    Warren 43k ex-USS Warren (APA-53) in commercial service as the Waterman Lines SS Arizpa on the Weser River, approaching Bremen, Germany, March 1962. Photo by Gerhard Mueller-Debus
    View the USS Warren (APA-53)
    DANFS history entry located at the US Naval Historical Center
    Crew Contact And Reunion Information
    U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
    Fleet Reserve Association
    Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
    No Information Available
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    This page is created and maintained by Gary P. Priolo
    © 2005 Gary P. Priolo © 1996 - 2008 NavSource Naval History. All Rights Reserved.
    Last Updated 29 February 2008